Cut the flab and stay healthy

Recent studies reveal that a lot of Indians are struggling with bulky bodies as India is getting fatter by the day. Sedentary lifestyle, access to and pining for rich food, lack of physical activity and comforts such as automobiles, air-conditioners and electronic devices to keep individuals busy at homes, have all contributed to the expanding girth of a good chunk of people. It may sound paradoxical for a nation known for malnutrition and widely photographed famished and stunted figures from rural homes. But of late, it is also known as the nation where obesity is skyrocketing.

And if doctors and latest medical studies and surveys are to be believed, obesity is leading to cardiovascular issues, cancer and neurological disorders. A report in this daily (Feb. 3) has revealed that nearly seven crore Indians are morbidly obese with prevalence rate of obesity being 12 to 30 per cent. It is also corroborated by NFHS data. According to the data from National Family Health Survey (NFHS5), one in every four persons in India is overweight compared to one in every five in NFHS-4.

Even WHO had raised an alarm over obesity becoming a phenomenon in low and middle-income countries while earlier it was something associated with wealthy countries. Obesity is calculated on the basis of Body Mass Index (BMI). Anyone with a BMI of more than 30 is considered obese; a person with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is deemed overweight. While risk for the heart due to obesity is quite well known, the knowledge about it being a causative factor for cancer, has been of recent origin.

This should cause worry, more so because early detection in such cases is rather difficult. While it is difficult to definitively establish that obesity causes cancer, evidence linking obesity to cancer comes from observational studies. But a study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) working group had concluded that there is consistent evidence that presence of higher amounts of body fats poses increased risk of a number of cancers.

Nationwide cross-sectional study using BMI and cancer incidence data from the US Cancer Statistics database estimated that each year between 2011 and 2015, among people aged 30 and older, about 4.7% of men and 9.6% of women had cancer. The data had been gathered from over 112,000 people. Most of those afflicted with the dreaded diseases reported cancer of gallbladder, esophagus or liver. Even globally, a 2012 study established that excess bodyweight led to approximately 3.9% of all cancers, with incidence being more among women. It may lead to a question if losing body weight reduces cancer risk?

Though research so far does not provide any conclusive opinion, it does point out decreased risk of breast, endometrial, colon and prostate cancers. With health risks of obesity being so well known, the mandarins in the health ministry need not wait for any conclusive proof and will be well advised to direct their efforts at controlling the contagion of obesity enveloping a vast chunk of people.